The home of the Summer of Love will soon house the first undergraduate program in psychedelic studies.
The California Institute of Integral Studies – a non-profit university founded in 1968 and located in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood – will welcome its first class of undergrads to its Bachelor of Science in Psychedelic Studies program this August. The program’s launch symbolizes the renewed attention hallucinogens like MDMA and psilocybin have received in recent years as a growing body of evidence suggests they may be powerful treatments for psychiatric conditions, like PTSD and treatment-resistant depression.
“Anyone who has a passion for psychedelics and for their capacity to create transformation and healing on an individual level, on a cultural and social level, there’s something for them in this program,” said the psychology professor Nick Walker in a promotional video for the program.
The bachelors program is the first such undergraduate degree in psychedelics to be offered in the United States – although a growing number of universities are offering certificates, minors or advanced degrees focused on psychedelics.
To do that, the California Institute of Integral Studies (or CIIS) is asking students to apply only once they have completed a minimum of 54 transferable semester units in general education coursework elsewhere. Then, their three semesters of classes at CIIS will focus solely on psychedelics, including psychology, neuroscience, research methods, psychopharmacology and ethical and legal considerations. Some of those course titles include “Global and Indigenous Knowledges and Ecopsychedelics” and “Psychedelic Advocacy, Equity, Research, and Connection”.
The program’s website emphasizes that “at no time does the program promote or require the use of psychedelic drugs in any manner”.
Although psilocybin – the psychoactive component in “magic” mushrooms – has been legalized in Oregon and Colorado, psychedelics remain illegal in California (although several cities have decriminalized them). Nevertheless, at least 72 clinical trials involving psychedelics are ongoing in California – including at universities like UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSF, and UC San Diego.
Students are currently enrolling in CIIS’s first freshman class and include many who say psychedelics have personally benefitted their own mental health.
Michael Bochey, a fire inspector based in Los Angeles who will begin coursework this fall, told the San Francisco Chronicle that psychedelics, specifically ayahuasca, helped him understand the trauma he had faced as a firefighter and paramedic. “The way I live my life now, I actually experience it. I’m more present,” he said.
Cassie Hope, another incoming student, told the Chronicle that ayahuasca and mebufotenin – also known as “bufo”, which most commonly comes from the Sonoran desert toad – “gave me a whole new perspective” after she faced depression postpartum and after a cancer diagnosis. Psychedelics “give you so much perspective on life and the finite amount of time we have on this planet. And healing. Emotionally, physically. Healing from life,” she added.
The program, which begins 28 August, is being offered online through an asynchronous learning portal to allow students to join from across California – not just Haight-Ashbury.
